The disclosure relates generally network communications, and more particularly to enhancements for telephonic communications
Most phone systems support voice mail, i.e., most phone systems allow callers to record voice mail messages and allow owners of voice mail mailboxes to listen to recorded voice mail messages. Typically, an owner of a voice mail mailbox provides a greeting that is to be played to a caller when the caller places a call to the owner, and the call is subsequently routed to the voice mail mailbox. The greeting may be recorded by the owner, or may be a “canned” greeting, e.g., a computerized greeting. Often, a greeting indicates that an owner is not able to answer his phone, and invites a caller to leave a message. An owner generally has a either a single greeting associated with his voice mail mailbox, or a few greetings that the owner chooses between depending upon his current preference.
Voice mail greetings generally do not provide information regarding the status, e.g., social networking status, of an owner of a voice mail mailbox. By way of example, a voice mail greeting which states that “John Doe is unable to answer your call right now,” does not provide any status information regarding what John Doe may actually be doing.
While an owner may update his voice mail greeting to provide information regarding his status, updating voice mail greetings is generally time-consuming and inconvenient. As a result, owners typically do not update their voice mail greetings. Thus, voice mail greetings generally do not provide listeners with any indication of what an owner is currently doing.